Our Problem
by DTraeger134
Summary: Ayce will do what it take to keep her sisters safe. She would protect everyone at the cost of herself. Can she save them all? Or will she lose this battle of survival? Can she admit when she herself needs saving? The old story of people finding strength and goodness in dark and desperate time. The dead walk, and the living cant be trusted. *Complete rewrite in progress*


"Alright you two, I'm going out. You know the drill," Ayce said as she gripped her bow in hand. A quiver of arrows was already strapped to her back. She shoved a water bottle into one of the pockets of the baggy cargo pants she wore and slipped a stained scrunchie around her wrist.

Annalynn nodded her head and poked at the dying fire. It got chilly at night in the woods, but with the first traces of daylight coming, it would heat up quickly. Best to get the fire to burn out fast.

Lilith only raised a brow at her. Even in the apocalypse, she managed to have the most perfect eyebrows. "We know, Ayce. You tell us every time you leave."

Ayce nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, well, I gotta make sure. Don't argue, you two. Behave."

She headed out, mindful to step over the trip wires as she went. She walked and walked, maybe for an hour. The light grew brighter as she went. Her eyes stay peeled, watching for large prey. The last few days its been small, squirrels and rabbits.

Purposely, she avoided going downhill. The incline wasn't steep, but a few days ago, she came across people. They camped a good way away from them, maybe a 3 or 4 hour hike. She had watched them for a while. It seemed relatively safe, but you never knew these days.

Rusling drew her from her musings, something big. A doe, maybe a year or two old. Not overly large, but better than nothing. She smiled ear to ear as she began the hunt. The woman tracked it for maybe a half hour following its stepps almost soundlessly.

Moment of truth. She crouched down, the deer chewing at some patch of grass that wasn't almost dead. The trees were thick here. To get a good angle without spooking it more, she stays right on the edge of a steep drop off. She had her arrow knocked and pulled back.

She shifted her weight just slightly to aim. And then kept shifting. Her eyes went wide as she teetered to the side, threatening to go over the drop off. She tossed the bow in a last ditch effort to hold on to a tree. Her fingers grazed the bark as she fell back into nothing. A singular yelp came from her and down she fell.

0o0o0

The fire died down. Annalynn continued to poke at it, decimating the ashes. Lilith stayed in her sleeping bag for a while longer until the sun was fully out. Now, she went through all their clothes. "We'll have to do laundry soon," she said. "I think most of these have been worn at least twice." She grimaced, holding a tshirt between a thumb and index finger.

Annalynn nodded in agreement, but said nothing. She wasn't feeling quite herself today. She was glad that Lilith seemed to get that. The brunette didn't say anything to Annalynn about it. As strained as their relationship was, she was glad to have her step sister with them. She would be all alone while Ayce went off into the woods.

0o0o0

Harsh light filtered through the canopy above, lessening the intensity, but not by much. It cast a golden glow upon the figure laying at the base of the steep hill. The animals in the surrounding area had long since gotten used to the huntress being there and paid her no mind. However, other predators were coming close, and they themselves didn't care for her, but larger, more dangerous beings would.

Ayce stirred, the light penetrating her eyelids. They fluttered open slowly, squinting at first, then opening fully, revealing bright, blue eyes. Her naturally platinum blonde hair was stained red with blood. She sat up slowly, wincing at the pain in her side. Poking gentally, she found a rather large shard of wood sticking out from her flesh. Further inspection found a bump and a nasty gash on her head, just above her temple.

She groaned low in her throat and pushed herself up, surveying her surroundings. No zombies, which was a good start. Her bow was at the top of the little cliff. She still had a knife strapped to her belt though.

The sun was high in the sky, meaning she had been out for a while. She silently cursed herself for this.

Ayce grit her teeth and began the tedious task of climbing up the hill. She had people to get back to. To protect.

0o0o0

"Annalynn, stop pacing. I _will_ make you zombie chow."

The other blonde, Annalynn, stopped and turned, a look of irritation crossing her features for a brief second. She walked away from the edge of the camp and sat on the opposite side of the fire pit, keeping Lilith in her sights.

"You could at least act like you're worried. She's your sister too, not just mine."

Lilith huffed. "I am worried. I worry every time she leaves, but it doesn't change anything. She can take care of herself."

Annalynn said nothing for a moment. "I know. I just have a bad feeling."

Lilith scoffed. "You mean to tell me you've felt not bad this whole time?"

"That's not what I meant. I just- I'm anxious."

Breathing a sigh, Lilith walked around and sat beside Annalynn. She said nothing, only planted a hand on her step sister's shoulder.

The sun was lower, maybe mid afternoon, when a tripwire went off. Metal cans clanged, sounding the breach in perimeter. Annalynn's heart jumped in her throat. Lilith looked at her, fear mirroring in those leafy green eyes. But scared or not, she was the first to move.

She dove for the tent and scooped up the gun in there. Facing Annalynn, she saw the blonde had a hunting knife gripped tightly in her hands. She looked out towards the direction the threat was coming from.

Annalynn gasped and dropped the knife as she rushed forward. "Ayce!"

Their sister stumbled forward, clutching her side. Blood seeped from a wound which still held what looked like a large stump of wood. More blood came from her head, coating the right side of her face and streaking through her hair.

The older woman stumbled again and fell to her knees. She swayed as Annalynn reached her. Ayce's eyes fluttered and she slumped, effectively passing out.

"Oh God, Crap. Ayce?"

Annalynn cradled her sister's head in her arms and she reached for the wood, afraid to touch it. Lilith snapped to attention. "Leave it in. She'll bleed to death if we take it out."

The blonde was close to tears. "Lilith, what do we do?"

Lilith was quiet for a moment. "About a week ago, Ayce told us about another group of people… We could take her there." Annalynn shook her head. "We can't. Ayce said we had to stay away from them. We know nothing about them."

"If we do nothing, she's gonna die. We can't fix this. Maybe they can help."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Annalynn trudged through the woods, careful not to trip over fallen logs or roots. Over her shoulder was Ayce's arm, while Lilith had the other. They stayed silent for most of the trip.

The blonde girl was the first to speak in a while. "Hold up, let me check the bandage." They both placed the woman on the ground so Annalynn could remove the makeshift bandage. "I think she's still losing blood. I hope we're close…."

It was already dark. The only light came from the moon, or whatever managed to get through the trees at least. They heaved the woman up and soldiered on. Both held fear that they would overshoot the other camp and Ayce would die anyway.

Light through the trees gripped them with hope. Their pace quickened, nearly landing flat on their faces as they burst through the treeline. Whoever these people were, they must have heard them coming. Most stood at the ready with some form of weapon posed to strike.

Everyone was still as both groups studied each other. The moment passed as weapons were lowered and Ayce was scooped into someone's arms. They three of them must have looked absolutely desperate; these people didn't even have to be told Ayce was injured. They whisked her away, Annalynn giving small protest. "Wait-"

She was hushed by a dark haired woman. "Hun, it's okay. We've got yall."

The woman placed a hand on each of their cheeks, looking on with kind eyes. "Im Lori. You're freezing cold, come sit."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Annalynn and Lilith sat with Lori and the rest of the camp, still trying to learn their names. Not that it mattered at the moment. Neither girl could concentrate on anything.

The men who took Ayce came out of the large RV they had carried her off into. The older of the three addressed the two sisters. "She's stable. While the side wound wasn't overly bad, she lost a lot of blood. It's amazing she's still breathing. She also has that nasty bump on her head. It's hard to say when she'll wake up."

Annalynn felt sick. "Can we see her?"

One of the other men nodded. "Yeah, come on." Annalynn and Lilith jumped up to trail after him. The other two men stayed behind as he led the way and popped open the RV door.

"She's in the back. Come on out when you're done."

Ayce lay on the bed in the back of the mobile home. Her hair was a mess and she was pale, so very pale. A thin blanket covered her up to her neck. Lilith would have thought her to be dead if she wasn't able to see the rise and fall of her chest.

Annalynn laid a hand on their sister's hair. "Oh Ayce," she whispered.

Lilith tugged at her. "Come on. She's alive and needs rest."

She followed reluctantly.

Outside, everyone was getting ready to turn in. Dale, the older man who took Ayce, offered them spare sleeping bags and a tent to share. They both accepted this graciously. Supplies like this were a gold mine.

The girls settled in, whispers from other campers all around them. They faced each other, eyes wide, just barely able to make out one another in the dark.

"Lilith, what if she dies?"

"She won't." There was steel conviction in her voice, and Annalynn left it at that. Unrestful sleep took them both.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The following morning, Lilith and Annalynn made a game plan for the day. Lilith would get volunteers for retrieving the things from their camp and Annalynn would watch over Ayce. Dale had kept an ear out during the night from the driver's seat. It had unsettled the two of them to have a stranger watch over her, but after lugging her for hours to get to them, they needed rest.

She waited a while. Those dark early morning hours faded away into midmorning before she woke. A rustling noise alerted her as Ayce propped herself up on an elbow. "Ayce! You're awake!"

Ayce fixed her with a bleary gaze. Her eyes were clouded over with sleep and pain. She slumped down a little and gave up on sitting up as she laid back down. "Annalynn, what happened? Where are we?"

The younger blonde sat gently on the bed, reaching to the other's hair to pull some tangles loose. "You got hurt. Passed out at camp." She paused, not looking her sister in the face and worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth. "We thought you were going to die."

Another moment passed while Annalynn got herself together. The idea of losing Ayce was still fresh to her. "We carried you for hours. We're at the other camp. The people you saw…"

She saw the horror and clarity sweep over the other woman. "Annalynn… We don't know anything about these people. We could be in danger."

"They saved you!" she said forcefully. "They could have let you bleed out and killed us. But they helped you and gave us a place to sleep. I don't think they want to hurt us."

Ayce huffed, but had nothing to say to this. They sat in silence for a while, Annalynn pulling out leaves and twigs from Ayce's hair. She grimaced at the tangles and blood. "You need a bath…" Ayce laughed at this, wincing slightly at the motion.

"Help me sit up, kiddo."

As she did, the door to the RV opened, and Lilith came through it. A small smile graced her lips as she saw Ayce. "Dale gave us the rundown of your injuries last night," she started. "He said the wound itself isn't large or deep. You should be able to move around. If you can. It did bleed for a long time."

Ayce nodded. "I think I'm okay. Help me stand?"

The younger girls lead her out of the RV, Annalynn first to catch her if she fell down the stairs, Lilith behind her to hold on to her. Ayce squinted at the bring light, but was glad to breathe in fresh air.

Both girls stood on either side of Ayce, each carefully holding an elbow. There were people mulling about the camp. Most of the women were doing laundry while men were busy stripping a bright red car. A boy, Asian, seemed extremely put off as the man next to him walked away.

The man in his white t-shirt spotted the three of them and adjusted his path. As he approached, he gave them a small wave and extended a hand. "Hi there, good to see you up," he said, a Southern twang litting at his words. Ayce reached out after a split second, seeing nothing but genuine kindness in those bright blues. "I've already had the pleasure of meeting your sisters. I'm Rick."

"Ayce," she answered.

She felt Annalynn nudge her. "Rick is one of the men who saved your life."

The man in question looked a bit bashful as he took his hand back. "It was a team effort. Not much we could do though, but stitch you up." Ayce shook her head. "No, don't sell it short. I would have died. Thank you. So much."

He looked off somewhere, eyes glazing over for a second. "Well, actually, it's Dale you should thank. Besides, I'm rather new here, too. Got here yesterday."

Lilith smiled, nodding to a woman with dark hair. "He even found his wife and kid after being in a coma this whole time. Isn't it a miracle?"

Ayce stared at the man. She was absolutely dumbfounded. Things like that just do not happen, especially in the world they live in now. "That's amazing…"

Rick nodded with a laugh and bid them farewell. "If you need anything, just give us a shout."

The girls smiled after him as he joined up with the dark haired woman who Lilith identified earlier as his wife. They shared smiles of love and hope. It warmed Ayce's heart to see it.

Shouts came from the woods, killing whatever feeling of peace that was beginning to stir. Horror crossed everyone's face as they raced towards the shouts. There were so many voices, Ayce couldn't make out what was being said.

"Watch her!" Before Ayce could say otherwise, Annalynn chased after the crowd. Ayce jogged a few steps to follow but stopped and hunched as her fresh injury sent white hot pain up her side. Lilith was by her side in an instant. She felt herself being guided to sit in an empty chair.

"Rest. She's okay."

It was true, the shouting had stopped. It was relatively quiet, no screams of pain or death. Rick's wife knelt by the edge of the campsite with a boy in her arms. Their son, more than likely. She allowed herself to relax and held a hand against her side. Lilith looked on from her spot, squatting next to the chair. Ayce heaved a sigh. "Do I even wanna know where our things are?"

Lilith chuckled. "Actually, I convinced some people to go with me back to our campsite this morning and gather it all. It wasn't nearly as long of a walk without having to drag you. I did have to bribe them with laundry duty."

The older woman nodded at this. She didn't like being indebted to people, but she was rather proud of how the two of them handled things. Making decisions and forming ties and building trust.

Lori made her way to the door of the RV Ayce slept in, followed by two blonde women. Annalynn trailed behind them. Ayce was up in a flash, arms outstretched. Annalynn put both her hands in her sister's, looking apologetic. Ayce gave her a stern look. "You really shouldn't have done that." Annalynn looked, but gave her a questioning look. "It's exactly what you would have done."

"Merle!"

Everyone turned to look at the caller. A very dirty man emerged from the woods, squirrels tied to his waist and a crossbow hanging from his hand.

"Merle! Get your ugly ass out here!" The Southern accent was heavy in his words. Ayce knew far too many people like that.

 _Rednecks_ , she thought with an eye roll.

"Got us some squirrel. Let's stew 'em up." Still, no one spoke. Ayce glanced around, seeing if anyone came forward. No one did, and the others looked apprehensive. Even her sisters seemed forlorn.

"What's going on?" she whispered. Lilith knelt down and whispered back into her ear. "That's Daryl. Merle is his brother. He's handcuffed to a roof in the city. Daryl doesn't know."

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. Need to talk to you." The man who spoke was tall, muscular, and had great hair, dark and full of volume. There was something off about his nose though.

The redneck, Daryl, glanced around the campsite before facing the other. "About what?" he asked.

"About Merele. There was a— There was a problem in Atlanta."

Daryl was silent for a minute. "He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl said, his voice rising. He was getting mad. Which was very understandable to Ayce.

Rick walked forward. "There's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it." Daryl looked him up and down. "Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes," Daryl responded, sounding like he was mocking Rick. "You got something you wanna tell me?"

"You're brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

Daryl walked away, wiping at his face. "Hold on," he said, and turned to face Rick again. "Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there!?"

"Yeah."

Daryl threw the squirrels at Rick. He ducked as Daryl surged forward. The other man who spoke blindsided him, tackling him to the ground. Another man dropped firewood he was holding. "Hey, he said. "Watch the knife."

A flash of silver was seen as Daryl lunged and swiped at Rick. The man successfully dodged each attempt. Rick immobilized his knife hand, giving the great haired man the chance to get the man in a choke hold. He held him there on the ground, and Rick knelt down to speak to him.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on the topic. Do you think we can manage that?"

No answer, and he repeated the question, and the other man released Daryl after a moment. Rick continued his explanation. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key." The man who warned them of the knife just moments ago spoke up. "I dropped it."

Daryl looked at him like he was stupid. "What, you couldn't pick it up?"

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

Daryl stayed on the ground a moment, feeling the dirt in his hands before he pushed himself up. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will— Look, I chained the door to the front of the roof. So the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."

"It's gotta count for something," Rick added.

Daryl's face scrunched up and he wiped at his eyes again. "The hell with all of y'all! Just tell me where he is so I can go get him."

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" asked Lori, a small amount of accusation in her voice. He seemed hesitant to answer but nodded. "I'm going back." A look of disgust came over Lori and she turned away, heading in to the RV. Everyone dispersed after that.

0o0o0

"Please please please let me get clean."

Annalynn and Lilith both looked uncertain. "Please. I'm gross and covered in sweat, and dirt, and blood." Annalynn gave a sigh, but conceded. They both walked with her to the lake, each on either side to catch her if she fell. She was not amused.

"Y'all, I'm not gonna break," Ayce said.

Lilith raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, we'll be over the hill. Shout if you need us." She tugged Annalynn with her, who looked like she wanted to stay and make sure Ayce didn't hurt herself. "Come on, Anna." And so she followed.

Ayce took in a deep breath. It was a beautiful area. The sunlight reflected off the water in dazzling way. It was a photographer's dream.

She stripped, and slowly waded into the water. It was cold at first, but she adjusted, only wading in up to her waist. No matter how lovely the water looked, she was not going to soak a fresh injury in it.

With her hair fully soaked from dipping it back into the lake, she squirted a fair amount of shampoo in her hand and tossed the bottle to shore. She gave her hair a good scrub and continued down her body with it. She did her best to rinse everything and climbed out of the water. As relaxing as it was, she did not relish the idea of being so vulnerable with so many strangers everywhere.

Once back at camp, Ayce took to sitting on a log while Annalyn sat behind her, taming her curls with a brush. "Feel better?" she asked. Ayce nodded in return. "Much."

The men had already left to travel into the city. Annalynn insisted they sit with everyone while they washed laundry, so Ayce made the trek back down to the little lake. Lilith made good on her promise, washing clothes with everyone and taking the opportunity to wash theirs as well. Annalynn filled this time by telling her who everyone was.

The man with the great hair was Shane. He was also the man who carried Ayce through camp. "He and Rick used to be cops, partners." He was currently attempting to teach Rick and Lori's kid to catch frogs. The boy's name was Carl.

Ayce sat on a rock and pulled up her shirt so Annalynn could change her bandage. After, she braided the older woman's hair, all the while explaining who people were as best she could. It was a bit of a guessing game since even her and Lilith didn't have everyone down just yet.

She was content to sit back and listen to the women chit chat. They went on and on about random things. Stating things they missed. Cars, coffee makers— which Ayce could agree with completely— computers, and, to everyone's surprise, vibrators. Most women agreed with this, and erupted with laughter.

But this seemed to tick off someone in the vicinity. A man who screams 'deadbeat' came waltzing down the hill. He held a cigarette and took a puff as he asked "What's so funny?"

Andrea called back to him, "Just swapping war stories, Ed."

He continued to make his way over to the group of women, and none of them seemed too pleased with this. Their smiles faded and they shifted uncomfortably.

"Problem, Ed?" Andrea asked. Ayce appreciated the balls on her.

"Nothing that concerns you," he retorted. "And you ought to focus on your work," he continued. "This ain't no comedy club." Andrea huffed, blinking rapidly at his audacity.

This continued for a while until Andrea got fed up with it. She stood and walked towards Ed, clothing in hand. "You know what, Ed? You don't like how your laundry's done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here," she said, and tossed it at his chest. He grabbed it in a split second and threw it right back with force.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, looking dumbfounded as she caught the item. "Ain't my job missy." As he said this, Amy, who Annalynn had explained was the younger sister, shot up off her seat. "Andrea, don't," she warned.

Andrea ignored her. "What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"

"Well, it sure as hell isn't listening to some uppity smart mouthed bitch. Tell you what. Come on, let's go," he said, directing the last comment at the grey haired woman Annalynn said was Carol, his wife.

Said woman stood, but Andrea kept talking. "I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed."

"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me."

"Carol," she said, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Andrea, please, it doesn't matter."

Lilith was by the woman's side, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But it does matter…"

Ed squared up to Andrea. "Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just cause you're some college educated cooze, all right?"

The moment Lilith stepped in, Ayce rose to her feet. He threatened Andrea, and Ayce fummed. "Just try it bud," she muttered.

Ed continued on, not hearing the muttered words. "Now you come on now or you'll regret it later."

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" another woman asked with disgust. "Yeah, we've seen them."

"Stay out of this. Now come on. You know what, this ain't none of y'alls business. You don't wanna keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on." He grabbed Carol's arm and pulled her away. The other women around them tried to stop them.

"No no, Carol, you don't have to—"

Carol muttered something, and Ed blew up. "You don't tell me what, I tell you what!" he said, punctuating his statement by bringing his hand across Carol's face.

Everyone shouted. Andrea pushed against Ed. Lilith was right there in the middle, and Ayce jumped into the fray. Everyone did all they could to keep the horrible man from the meek woman.

And then someone came and pulled Ed away. Shane grabbed Ed and tossed him away to the ground. He hit the man again and again, so much rage fueling every punch. Eventually everyone was screaming for him to stop. Andrea held Carol back as she tried to run towards the men. Ayce held Annalynn's hand and had her other on Lilith's shoulder.

Shane brought Ed's face close to his own. "You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anybody else in this camp one more time I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?"

"Yes," Ed slurred back.

"I'll beat you dead, Ed," he said, punching the man one last time and kicking him as he stood. Carol raced forward as Shane stepped away. She sobbed and apologized for things that were not her fault. Everyone else watched Shane with trepidation and fear. He looked them over before walking away.

Ayce moved her hand from Annalynn's, grabbing the other girl's head and pulling her close.

 _What the hell is this..?_


End file.
